Improvement in name-plates for organ-stops



c. E. BACON & w.1. KENT.

Organ Stops.

N0.115,146. Patented May 23,1871.

Z2120? WW 95M 1 W UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

CHARLES EDWVIN BACON AND WILLIAM JONES KENT, 0F BUFFALO, NEW

YORK;

SAID KENT ASSIGNS IIIS RIGHT TO SAID BACON.

IMPROVEMENT IN NAME-PLATES FOR ORGAN-STOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,146, dated May 23, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES EDWIN BA- ooN and WILLIAM J oNEs KENT, both of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tablets or Name-Plates for Organ-Stops, of which the following is a specification:

Our invention relates to the ivory labels or name-plates used on the ends of the drawknobs or stops of organs,,melodeons, 8m, to designate the tones contained in the instrument.

The figure in the drawing is a perspective view.

The ivory labels now used are made of disks or plates cut from the end of a stick or piece of ivory and crosswise of the grain; then, after being fastened to the wooden draw-knob, they are engraved letter by letter by hand in the same manner that box-wood is cut and engraved for illustrating books, &c.

The objections to thesetablets are many, and, among others, havingto cutoff the pieces crosswise of the grain, it requires ivory of a certain size or diameter, and then to be engraved by hand. This hand-work, besides the labor of finishing, added to the cost of ivory, makes them quite expensive. For these reasons and others makers of organs, &c., have used as substitutes glass, porcelain, composition, and printedlabels; but none have eifectually taken the place of ivory or make so handsome a stop or tablet.

Our invention consists in taking thin sheets of ivory or veneers, which are cut lengthwise with the grain, or the strips known as scrollivory, and stamping on them with metal dies the names of the stops, and then applying them to the ends of the knobs a. This, as will be seen, is a great improvement on the old style of tablets for stops; it not only saves greatly in the expense of ivory, but does away entirely with the cost of the engraving, besides saving in time and handling, and producing a handsonierlabel, as our plates present a cleaner and brighter appearance, and keep whiter longer than the others, for the reason that on the end of ivory the pores or cells all come out on top and more readily absorb (lamp and dirt, while our side pieces hardly show these veins or cells.

The expense of these strips or veneers is but a trifle compared with the cost .of the pieces cut from the ends of ivory, and whole strips can be stamped by our method while a single letter is being engraved. It also allows the use of ivory, which hitherto could not be used for this purpose, and this we consider an important point not only for its application to this use, but also in consequence of the growing scarcity of ivory.

Another important advantage is that the thinness of these strips, after being out into plates, allows them to be pressed and fastened onto the convex end of the wooden knob and at once conform to that shape, presenting the same oval surface that the engraved knobs do when ovaled by hand.

The reason these strips have not hitherto been used is because they cannot be engraved, any attempt resulting in chipping off theivory they, however, readily receive the impression of the stamp, a single blow forcing in the stamp sufficiently to hold the coloring matter which shows the letters.

What we claim as our invention is- As a new article of manufacture, the ivory labels of organ-stops made from veneers or strips cut lengthwise or with the grain, and the name of the stop stamped therein by metal dies, as hereinbefore fully explained and set forth.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. E. BACON.

IVitnesses: WM. JOYES KENT.

J. R. DRAKE, 0. X. WOODWARD. 

